


Left behind

by Nelarun



Category: Bleach
Genre: Character Study, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, Matsumoto centric, Military society, Post-Diamond Dust Rebellion, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-24 10:40:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17702813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nelarun/pseuds/Nelarun
Summary: Three times Matsumoto Rangiku had been left behind by those she had been loyal to, three times Hitsugaya Toushirou had not known how to help.





	1. The Parting of the Moon

Hitsugaya Toushirou stared at the paperwork on his desk before he set his brush down and leafed through them, jumping when he heard a shout. He left the paperwork and moved towards the window, looking down at the parade ground where Matsumoto Rangiku, the most infuriating and loyal fukutaichou he could ask for, was putting the men through their paces with the intent on rewarding them with free sparring afterwards. As though feeling his gaze, she turned to him and nodded, but it lacked the usual exuberance and warmth he had come to associate with her. 

Hitsugaya Touchirou had messed up.

Badly.

oOo

While he had felt some fondness for Shiba-taichou, his true fondness was reserved for Matsumoto-fukutaichou. In fact he wondered how the Division was still standing, if it weren't for Matsumoto, the Taichou's lacksadaisical behaviour would have left the Division in ruin a long time ago. Toushirou didn't think much of the man, and only accepted the offer from the 10th because he remembered Matsumoto with something that was bordering on fondness, not that he would ever admit that to anyone.

He watched as Taichou waltzed off with Kyoraku-Taichou and heard Matsumoto grumbling about something in the office. He poked his head in and saw her signing paperwork and using the Taichou's personal chop to seal them. "Hitsugaya-san, don't tell anyone hmm?" 

"That you're forging Taichou's hand?" Hitsugaya scoffed. "If you didn't, it wouldn't get done." 

The woman breathed a laugh and continued working. No. Toushirou did not come to this Division for the Taichou. 

 

When Taichou started disappearing to the Realm of the Living, Toushirou felt cold spikes of anger directed towards the man who was making Matsumoto worry, and deep wells of gratitude to the men and women of the Division who rallied around their normally vibrant Fukutaichou whose dismay and concern faded to annoyance for when Taichou returned.  Their exchanges were always amusing. Matsumoto had even gone so far as to alert the Fourth the time she broke his nose with a serving tray and they refused to heal it. (He heard Shiba-fukutaichou had laughed himself sick at the whole incident).

One day he didn't return and Toushirou hated the man who cause Matsumoto's brow to furrow with worry, even in sleep, who caused her to lose weight, become ashen and almost mechanical in her actions. She went in his place to one Taichou's meeting, begging their pardon but explaining that there was an issue at the Division that Taichou wanted to deal with. She went a second time and explained that he wasn't well. The third time she was compelled to answer and she told the truth. 

The entire Division was muted, barely speaking, no laughter, just worry as they held their collective breathed while waiting for news. Matsumoto was called before an official inquiry where it was revealed that she had covered up many of Taichou's journeys to the Realm of the Living. Five lashes later, ten years docked pay and an official reprimand in hand and Matsumoto was authorised to send out her own search parties for their errant Taichou. 

While she wanted him to lead a squad, he preferred to stay at her side. He hoped that this helped, but from the way her shoulders hunched slightly, he thought he had made it worse. 

 

Four months later, Shiba Isshin: Taichou of the Tenth Division of the Seireitei Guardians, and his zanpakutou, Engetsu, were declared killed-in-action. No commendation was offered to the once highly thought of Taichou, no honour was given to his Clan. As for the Tenth? His former Division was censured and put under official watch. 

Matsumoto-fukutaichou found a temporary solace in sake and, later, in teasing him. It wasn't the lighthearted teasing he was used to with Matsumoto, but it was a start. The two threw themselves into their work, he fixing the paperwork, she training the men. Eventually their supervisor left and the division started breathing again. 

One evening after the supervisors retreat he stumbled across her sitting on top of one of the rocks in the garden, an empty sake bottle beside her, looking up at the moon. 

"Ah, Taichou," she breathed. "The least you could'a done was say 'goodbye', ne?" Feeling like an intruder he backed away as quietly as he could, leaving her to the moon to heal. 

 

Two days later he was approached by Kuchiki Byakuya, Kyoraku Shunsui, and Ukitake Juushirou. They held a Taichou's haori and a notice of promotion for him. When he tried to refuse the posting they looked surprised and mentioned that Matsumoto had fought long and hard for his promotion. He wordlessly took the haori from them. That afternoon, Matsumoto stood at his shoulder and the Division cheered.


	2. The Tarnishing of Silver

The aftermath of summer was torturous for Hitsugaya for many reasons but it was to his personal shame that he hadn't noticed Matsumoto's despondency until he walked into his office to find the paperwork done, bundled and ready to be filed or delivered as appropriate. His signature and chop adorned the pages though he was fairly certain he hadn't done any of them. He quietly drifted through the halls of his Division searching for his fukutaichou and finally found her sitting on a rock in the stone garden, long hair lank and limp around her tired face. She was basking in the sun and looked ill. Toushirou was about to approach when another officer drew him aside. 

His third seat told him that Matsumoto had been hauled before an inquiry and interrogated regarding her relationship with Ichimaru Gin, and how it was possible that she had never been aware of his intentions to defect from the Soul Society. After all, she had been acutely aware of another Taichou's defection and had done her best to cover it up. 

Anger battered him. Matsumoto had disobeyed him and saved Hinamori's life when he was unable to. She always had his back when it mattered, was the face and life of the Division, and the one time she needed him he was sitting in the medical wing, sitting by Hinamori's bedside. Inquiries were brutal. Days of endless questioning, sleep deprivation, barely any food or water, sealed away from ones zanpakutou, and if in her exhausted state she had slipped even once, even seemed like she knew more than she really did, it would be extended or she would have been turned over to more violent interrogators. He should have known about it! He should have stepped it, or at least been able to oversee the farce as it was presented. 

He could have told the panel all they needed to know, while it was true that Matsumoto was in a relationship with the former Third Division Taichou, she was a loyal member of the Tenth Division and would do nothing to endanger her Division or Taichou. After everything that happened with Shiba-taichou, she would never leave them in a position of derision. If Matsumoto had known about Ichimaru or Kaname or Aizen, she would have told him. Maybe she would have been furtive about it, perhaps she would have investigated further before bringing such a damning accusation to bear against three highly regarded Taichou's, but she would have told him. 

If nothing else, her behaviour would have changed and he would have demanded that she tell him what was wrong. 

When he coolly asked the Soutaichou why he had not been informed of his fukutaichou's Inquiry, he had been rebuked and told that everything had been done properly, and what's more, Matsumoto had been cleared of any wrongdoing. And yet he watched, helplessly, as his fukutaichou listlessly went about her duties, not even trying to escape her portion of the paperwork, worrying the men she trained with the frailness of her voice and the pallor of her skin. 

He decided that he hated Kira and Hisagi for being able to put a smile on her face, to restore the bounce in her step. He hated that once again he was unable to help her after yet another person she trusted, loved, disappeared and left her behind to pick up the pieces. 

Matsumoto laughed as she dashed from the office as he found another set of paperwork hidden behind the couch and he sighed, a small smile playing at his lips as he heard her speaking with some of the junior officers. He silently made a vow. He would never cause her to lose her laugh, never cause her to hide away from the world, never cause her to be brought before the Soutaichou for an official reprimand. He turned back to the paperwork and bit back another sigh. At least she had left him tea. 

 

 


	3. Diamond Dust

Everything was muted, lagging, simultaneously fast and slow.  _How_?

"Taichou!" It was like a bolt of lightning hit him and the world settled back into normalcy. "Taichou!" He couldn't stay, if he tried to go through official channels, these people would do more harm before the paperwork was even filled out. "Taichou!" He glanced over his shoulder and saw Matsumoto racing towards him. There must have been some expression on his face because she paused mid-step and he tried to silently tell her all that would take too long to say with words. He tried to tell her that he had to go, that he didn't have a choice, he didn't want to betray her, but he had to. Most importantly, he tried to say goodbye. He left her hurt and confused, seeing the dawning betrayal in her eyes. 

He hated himself in that moment. 

Always before he had tried to help her pick up the pieces after she was betrayed, and despite his vow, this time it was he who left her without a word. 

He later heard that the Division had been put into lock down, that all seated officers had their zanpakutou confiscated and sealed. He heard that they had been close to rioting, and he wouldn't have blamed them, having a part of ones soul sealed away was unsettling. Matsumoto stopped it before it could start, she protected the division from further reprisal. He knew what happened to Divisions who rebelled against the Soul Society, best case, they disappeared and Divisions were shuffled to cover it. But Matsumoto had willingly handed her zanpakutou over and then stood there and watched as the rest of his officers followed her example, daring them to disobey. 

He heard that Matsumoto was hauled before another Inquiry, though this time she was allowed back to the Division after each session, always escorted by someone who oversaw that session. Apparently Kyoraku had insisted that he be one of the overseers and had taken that duty on almost exclusively. His Third said that Kyoraku-taichou had been given temporary guardianship of the Division and he was gentle about it, making sure that morale was as high as it could be with their Taichou missing and their Fukutaichou being subject to an inquiry. He smiled when his Third recounted an overheard conversation between Kyoraku and Matsumoto.  _"You know, Ran-chan, losing one Taichou is rough but two? A little careless of you don't you think?"_ Matsumoto had almost smiled and thanked him quietly, accepting the elixir of pain relief that he offered to her. 

He read the reports after the Inquiry had ended. Matsumoto had been found innocent of any crime and the Tenth came under the administration of the Sixth Division. At least Kuchiki was ruthlessly fair and before she had been promoted to Fukutaichou, Matsumoto had been Third for the Sixth under Ginrei, so she and Kuchiki could work well together. And they did. For a few days the Soul Society forgot that Matsumoto was loyal to her Taichou, and then she argued against the Soutaichou in a taichou meeting. Ten stripes on her back and an official reprimand for disrespect before the assembled Taichou's towards a superior officer was the cost of her defending him. He didn't deserve that kind of loyalty.  _None of them had_. 

It took Kurosaki to show him how much he had hurt Matsumoto. All the seated officers were standing behind her, all trying not to show how furious at him they were. After a debriefing, and honestly he was more surprised that it wasn't an Inquiry, he was returned to his Division. Kuchiki-taichou informed him that elements of the Sixth, Internal Affairs really, would be monitoring the Division. He was on probation. He knew it was bad when Matsumoto didn't even smile when he told her. She left the paperwork for him, set the patrol and training schedule on top and quietly left the office. 

oOo

So he stood there and watched as Matsumoto trained the men, he leaned against the frame and watched as she drove one of the men into the dust with a lazy flick of her hip. despite everything, Matsumoto glanced up at him again, and she grinned up at him. For half a moment everything was good between them, and then they both remembered that he had caused everyone to question her loyalty  _again_ , and that once again she had been found innocent. He sighed and shifted away from the window. Hours later, when lanterns were being lit and the Division was emptying into the mess hall, Matsumoto walked into the office and crashed on the couch, fluffing the pillow before she swung her legs up. "Taichou, I worry about the kids coming out of the Academy. They're getting worse and worse at basic training. Anyway, I'm going out tonight. Apparently there's a new bar opening nearby and I'm keen to check it out." She turned her head to look at him, the look of pure innocence on her face. "You want to come?" 

His shout of  _Matsumoto_ rang throughout the Division and in the mess, the division members breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was back to normal, and all was right in their world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few changes to the one posted on ff.net, including ending it on a more hopeful note than the one originally posted.
> 
> I'm on Tumblr if you wanted to drop a line! Same name - Nelarun!


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